


Northern Lights

by Crunchysunrises



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-01
Updated: 2013-02-01
Packaged: 2017-11-27 20:00:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/665887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crunchysunrises/pseuds/Crunchysunrises
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sakura is on a long mission in Land of Ice. Kakashi comes for a brief visit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Northern Lights

**Author's Note:**

> **Content Notes:** None  
>  **Disclaimer:** I have no rights to or within the Naruto franchises, copyrights, characters or trademarks. This is for fun, not profit.  
>  **Additional Notes:** Written for the KakaSaku Community on Dreamwidth's Last Fan Standing Challenge. This fic also answers the "Haunted" square on my Dark Fantasy Bingo Card.

When she is twenty-three, Sakura is assigned a six month mission in Land of Ice. She packs her things, says her goodbyes (three times with Kakashi), and leaves Konohagakure.

Land of Ice is small, terribly cold, and very dark. But its citizens are pleasant, the food is delicious, and Sakura's assigned cabin is wonderfully warm. And the northern lights are _glorious._

Sakura understands that the aurora borealis is merely energetic charged particles colliding with each other, their flow directed by Earth's magnetic field. But the dancing lights are so beautiful that Sakura cannot help but want to believe the legends: that the world is surrounded by vast fires, that the lights are a pathway between this world and the next, that they are heroes' immortal battles.

Every day, Sakura brews a thermos of hot cocoa, bundle up in her warmest clothes, and goes outside to enjoy the northern lights.

The only truly unpleasant thing about Sakura's stay in Land of Ice is her nagging illness. When Sakura discovers the cause of it, she is relived to be neither sick nor dying.

Sakura sends word home to Konohagakure and waits for her replacement. She is still waiting when she hears snow crunch behind her a moment before a familiar voice says, "Yo."

"Kakashi!" Sakura yelps as she drops her thermos' cup, whirls around, and throws herself at Kakashi. He laughs, catches her, and kisses her soundly.

"You're not my replacement, are you?" Sakura asks. Outside of wartime, it is rare for romantic partners to replace each other in the field.

"No," Kakashi assures her. His hands are so cold that Sakura can feel them through her clothes. "I was in the area."

Sakura does not believe that for a moment. _Nothing_ is in the area of Land of Ice.

"So you've heard?" Sakura demands as she takes Kakashi's bare hands between her mittened ones. She begins briskly rubbing heat and chakra into them. "I wanted to tell you about the pregnancy myself!"

Kakashi goes still. The lights overhead wash his pale hair in shades of red and green. His eye very dark, Kakashi asks, "Truly?"

When Sakura nods excitedly, Kakashi hugs Sakura so tight that she squeaks.

They spend the rest of the night cuddling and talking. Kakashi's hands never warm up but he refuses Sakura's repeated offers to share her cocoa. Instead, he tells her funny stories about his childhood, they agree on potential names, and Kakashi tells her where the Hatake clan's scrolls are. (Sakura had not even known that the Hatake _had_ secret clan techniques.)

As daylight draws nearer, Kakashi pulls Sakura close and kisses her mouth.

"Take care of yourself. And the baby."

"Kakashi, I don't understand." Sakura clutches at one of Kakashi's wrists with both of her hands. "Are you on assignment?"

"More like procrastinating on one," Kakashi says, smiling again. He touches her cheek very gently. "I really _do_ love you."

When the northern lights fade away under the dawn's bright light, so does Kakashi.


End file.
